Lucky Star – 18

Would you like a chocolate wafer? They’re good huh! Here’s another bag! I got a ton, cuz y’know, they come with cool toys.

Out of nowhere, Konata starts assigning animals to everybody. I’m pretty mischievous, so a fox. Yutaka is like a small animal, so a squirrel. Tsukasa is obedient, so a dog. Hoh, Kagami says, this is just an excuse to call me a tiger or a wolf, isn’t it? Nope, Konata replies… since you’re such a lonely girl, maybe you’re a rabbit~

How about the others?Yui-neesan: leopard – always on the move!Minami: falcon – quiet and coolMiyuki: sheep – she’s got that “fumo fumo” feeling to her… nice way of saying airheaded bimbo! Konata disagrees: Miyuki should be a cow due to the size of her mammaries!

It’s interesting to think about, albeit random – but from a Konata standpoint – these kind of human to animal transformations happen quite often, no? We just saw something like it a few episodes ago in Nagasarete. The mind of an anime otaku… sweet childish innocence meshed with sticky adolescent hormones.

Today’s random conversation: talking about Konata’s scrapbook from her childhood. Back then, she wanted to be regular things, like a vet or a lawyer. What happened!!

Random segue into: Is housewife considered a profession? Kagami doesn’t think so, but that’s what Tsukasa put down for her future aspiration…

Today’s random Miyuki explanation: What type of foods and nutrients are good for your eyesight?

Today’s random Day in the Life of the Hiiragi Family: Tsukasa thinks puppies are cute! Dad, let’s get a dog! Kagami to the rescue: you know, you have to walk it, train it, clean up after it, etc… dogs aren’t all fun and games. You know what this reminds me of? When those kids get all happy when they get a balloon from the carnival, then some asshole walks by and pops it. Kinda like that.

Today’s random Tsukasa With Cell Phone scene: Her bill this month was too high – she got scolded >_< . Connects to talk about how long a cell phone lasts, and how Konata uses the cheapest plans because she barely uses her phone anyways!

Wow, that’s a lot of randomness. Random happenings in the rest of the episode:

Tsukasa is pretty forgetful, so Kagami has to be more reliable. But if she’s too reliable, won’t Tsukasa just keep relying on her? Chicken or the egg…

Dad to Tsukasa: reading manga is ok, but make sure to read the newspaper from time to time! It’s hard for Tsukasa… can’t tell where the next line begins -_-

Konata affirming her status as THIRD YEAR to a much taller kouhai in Yutaka’s class

Minami is tall, but she’d rather divvy up her growth to “other” areas of her body.

Last Character Introduce! Tamura Hiyori, the dark haired meganekko in Yutaka’s class. Let’s see what happens to her in this episode.

Gets beaned by Minami’s high speed throw in dodgeball during PE class.

Tries to sketch a tender moment between Minami and Yutaka, but can’t bring herself to do it in front of her friends! It’s not embarrassment, it’s shame!

Yutaka, Minami, and Patricia visit Hiyori’s house. While Hiyori goes downstairs to get drinks, the three eye spy her huge manga collection and her sketchbooks – complete with sketches of… eh? Minami as a Shakespearian knight? A tragic love scene between Minami and Yutaka? “NO!” Hiyori thinks, “I can’t get my innocent friends involved in such a rotten world!”

Side by side with Hiyori, we also find out more about our favorite exchange student, Patty!

She’s already made the pilgrimage to the “Three Holy Places” in Japan. Yutaka: You mean places like Kamakura and Kyoto? Patty: No, no, I mean Tokyo’s Akiba, Osaka’s Nipponbashi, and Nagoya’s Oosu! And even some of the landmarks around the area! Yutaka: Like Tokyo Tower? Patty: No! Like Nakano Broadway and Kichijouji! These are the established “otaku capitals” of Japan… makes a morbid kind of sense that a foreign exchange student would be an otaku

Hanging out with Yutaka, Minami, and Hiyori – Patty suggests they head over to Otome Road (Maiden’s Road)! Yutaka and Minami don’t know what that is, so Patty explains that it’s a place where they sell a lot of anime, manga, and various character goods…similar to Akiba, except with more stuff geared towards female otaku. Of course, Yutaka’s isn’t listening at all and her mind has wandered to some fairytale land of princesses and princes…. until she hears the term “fujoushi” – the term used for female otaku. In Japanese, the kanji is written as “rotten woman” because of their affinity for yaoi and various boy’s love things… which Yutaka completely misunderstands and Hiyori rolls her eyes at (it’s too hard to explain!)

Lucky Channel 18 – Standard fare, this time being a recap of the six side characters. Akira not too happy that even the minor characters are getting screen time, whereas she still hasn’t gotten any…

Shiraishi Minoru ED

ED: 「かおりんのテーマ」 (Kaorin no Theme) by 白石稔 (Shiraishi Minoru)

Shiraishi sings a rather poppy song and sounds… well, impressive. No corny dance this time, though, it’s Tsukasa’s VA in a wedding dress… until the very end, where she somehow morphs into Shiraishi as the veil is being lifted :O

Preview

Thoughts

The title of this episode is “Ten People, Ten Colors,” referring to the now-complete lineup of the ten Lucky Star girls, and quite literally, their unique hair colors. Of course, if that were really the case, it’d be nine colors with Kagami and Tsukasa – the “ten colors” actually refers to their ten different personalities. Each girl looks unique, sounds unique, and behaves their own unique way, each of them easily identifiable with just a glance or a few quick words.

The thing is, up to this point, the same could be said about almost any harem anime, be it the popular ones like SHUFFLE or Da Capo, or even the crappy bygones like KanonAir SHUFFLE Memories or Da Capo Second Season. So what separates the Lucky Star girls from the harem lineups?

To me, it’s that sense of honest friendship that continues to be the x-factor for this show, and it shines brighter than ever in this episode. Much like the main foursome, the kouhai foursome of Yutaka, Minami, Hiyori and Patty is terrific fun to watch, even if all they do is sit around and talk. Each character is unique and individual in their own sense, but not necessary to fill a role as seen in harem lineups – rather, it’s completely believable that they are a group of friends that appreciate each other’s company. I believe part of what makes this achievable is the ease and fluidity in which the characters are set up – unlike the conjured fantasy of harem characters, it’s more of a simplified, exaggerated reality in Lucky Star. Azumanga was successful to this degree and part of the reason for its lasting appeal, but I believe Lucky Star excels in this aspect with how “synchronized” the characters are, not just with the pace of the show, but with each other. It’s funny how such different people can come together and become great friends, isn’t it?

As a final note, I wanted to bring up Patty’s character and the interesting subtleties in her personality. As a foreign exchange student, she’s quite proud of her extensive knowledge of Japanese otaku culture, and even gets a bit stuck-up when Yutaka and Minami say they haven’t heard of those otaku places are with a snobby “you mean you REALLY don’t know?” I mean, isn’t that so true? I’m always pestering my Japanese friends about the newest Miliyah Kato single or the newest episode of Dennou Coil, but they have no idea what I’m talking about. Before, like Patty, I was sort of surprised at their lack of knowledge in such things I put so much time into, but now I realize it is completely understandable. After all, if some Japanese guy started gushing to you about the latest Battlestar Galactica or Stargate SG-1 episode, would you be able to follow? I’m sure some of you might very well be able to, but I’ll take a stab and say most of us wouldn’t. And it’s just like that with these late night anime – they cater to a specific audience, and even though it might be hugely popular in anime circles around the world, it’s still a minority when compared to the entire population. For Patty to not be cognizant of this piece of cultural wisdom is a delicious little intricacy of her character – the kind sprinkled all throughout Lucky Star – ultimately coming together in a seamless package that’s not only funny, but also exciting, heartwarming, and oh so delectable.

Bad ED is bad.
The ep was still good, and i liked how we saw Yutaka and her classmates (Hiyori the otaku!)
How and yeah, Patricia Martin visits all the otaku places, and goes to that fujoshi “host” coffee in Ikebukuro xD

i have to give kyoani some serious thank you’s for the full metal panic-on-super robot wars parody.

-konata’s comment on why boys do not mind getting wet in the rain (i.e., they dont wear bras) was out there lol.

-konata shows off (im quite frugal!) on how she only pays for “basic fees” for her cellphone…since she barely uses it
-more cellphone talk (how long do you keep your cell before you switch models?)
-tsukasa has trouble with newspapers because th kanji is too hard for her! xD
-konata likes to abuse her status as sempai. ahahaha
-hiyori blurts out terms associated with yuri/yaoi during her converation with yutaka&minami
-patricia also joins in on the supposed yuri tension bet. minami and yutaka

if im not mistaken, kuroi-sensei makes a very bold statement in this episode…
“senkyo bangumi mo jiji mondai no benkyou ni narun dashi” = “election news alerts/programs are a good way to learn/understand about problems associated with old geezers…” o.O

ok im sry, th poster above me touched a serious nerve. excuse me, nanashi. i see american movies being “illegally” d/l on WINNY and whatnot all the time. argh. i seriously hate ppl like these with a passion…they are only a minority, but they make the greater population (japanese) look like a bunch of uncivilized jerks. grr.

nanashiのような馬鹿で礼儀のない人に”二度とタダで日本のアニメは見るな”と言う筋合いはありません. どうせ英語が話せないから日本語入力なんですよね? what a coward~ :P

First, I HOPE YOU WATCH SOMETHING LIKE LOONYTOONS, EVEN BUGS HAS BETTER MANNER THAN J00. Who said all of us here don’t buy the freaking high priced DVD to support YOUR animation industry? This blog is like SELLING you country’s product to us who aren’t living there. I should think this has produced EXTRA incomes for YOUR country’s industry instead. And that YOU WATCH THE SHOWS FOR FREE, how about YOU go out and buy every anime DVD you ever watched and shut the hell up here.

Stratos really loves Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, if you couldn’t tell with his high-quality releases along with translating 98% of the hidden jokes on the blackboards and stuff.

As for this episode, I want to really like it (for keeping references at minimal and original stuff at an all-time high), but sometimes it dragged a lot and got boring with mundane conversations and unimpressive running gags. Of course, there is already another everything-referencing show (Hayate) from the same season, and a new show (SZS) that also focus on references (though that’s in the background); Lucky Star can’t redeem itself, but if they stop being a Haruhi infomercial now, it might save some skin.